BERKELEY — She loves the chicken and ribs at The Spot on Route 9 in Toms River, and she has an affinity for longboarding and basketball.

Kayla Roncin also happens to enjoy playing baseball. And, yes, she's a pretty darned good player.

"She takes the game seriously and she's good," said Toms River Little League all-star teammate and friend Colin Baker. "She's really good defensively at first base and she can hit the ball."

The 12-year-old, long-haired brunette stands out amid a team full of boys, but not because the slender sixth-grader ties her hair into a ponytail.

As part of a 13-player squad which has made a solid run through the District 18 and Section 3 tournaments, Roncin has proven to be every bit of a productive player who contributes a lot to the team.

In last week's Section 3 championship against Nottingham and its high-powered offense, Roncin snagged four hard grounders hit to her vicinity at first, including two to end innings and one on a sharp short-hopper to cut down what could have led to a much bigger threat for Nottingham in the fourth inning.

"Kayla's a good athlete in general, but she really shows it on the field," said Toms River manager Pete Avallone, whose crew beat Wood-Ridge/Moonachie in Wednesday's opener of the New Jersey championship tourney and on Friday will face Ocean City/Upper Township in the winner-bracket semifinal.

"She's a great defensive player at first and she can even pitch a little. She can fly around the bases, and she can hit the ball. I mean, she can really drive the ball into a gap. Ever since tee-ball, she's stood out."

A New York Yankees and, not surprisingly, Derek Jeter fan, Roncin was 5 when she started playing baseball after developing an interest in the game from watching it on TV.

Last fall, she played with a 12-and-under travel team in the Cal Ripken Golden Spike Tournament in Aberdeen, Maryland, after which she was named MVP by the tournament committee. The home-plate plaque hangs on her bedroom wall.

"It's fun being the only girl on the team," she said. "The boys treat me like I'm one of them. I just like playing and being on the field."

And it shows. Roncin is just as competitive as any of her teammates out there, expecting only the best out of herself as she tries to do her part to help the team win.

"She's definitely a competitor," Avallone said. "She believes she belongs out there and she's sometimes hard on herself. But she's the most courageous kid I've ever known, because playing baseball at a high level with boys is not easy for a girl."

Baker agreed.

"I know if I was a girl, I couldn't do it," he said.

And relatively soon, there's a likelihood Roncin won't be doing it. Instead, a softball career might be calling her name as she delves deeper into her middle school years and then goes to high school.

She began making the transition to softball this spring by playing at Toms River Intermediate North.

"I wanted to play a sport in the spring, so I started softball," Roncin said. "The pitching is slower than in baseball. It took me two games to make the adjustment with the pitching, but it wasn't too hard."

Certainly not as hard being surrounded by boys at the Little League state tournament.

"They all know she's a girl, that's for sure," Avallone said. "But really, she's just like any of the boys out there. And the fact she's here with us proves it."